A Different View of the Ever-Changing LTC Landscape

Submitted by bmaruska on March 30, 2017 - 2:57pm

Bob MaruskaLTC / DI Expert

This month, our Long Term Care focus is going to go in a different direction.

In the past few months, we have seen several changes to the traditional Long Term Care Market. One such change was the coming to light of financial issues at Genworth and the exiting of John Hancock from the market. These carriers were two of the major players in the traditional market in recent years.

We continue to see ongoing changes being made in all areas of LTC products currently available for sale. Mutual of Omaha and Transamerica are the only two carriers left that offer a traditional product. Asset-Based products are also in transition at this time. Moneyguard is being repriced this month, and other carriers are planning changes later this year. We will continue to see pricing adjustments and changes on all Life/LTC combo plans and Chronic Illness riders. Please remember that the low interest rate environment is creating some of these changes and repricing for the carriers.

Click here to read a very interesting article written by the CEO of Genworth in November 2016. I wanted you to hear from another source concerning the future and the outlook for this market.

He talks about the financials of Genworth and the investment of the China Oceanwide Holding Company. He also comments on the future of Genworth and the LTC market in general, which is interesting. He talks about how this is a worldwide issue. China has a much more serious problem than the US, primarily because of their population. He talks about a change in the benefit model for the future. I think you will find this to be some very interesting reading and may even change your thinking for the future and how you approach your LTC sales.

Are you keeping up with the industry news articles and updates? Are you keeping an open mind to changes and looking at different products for different situations? Depending on what product you're presenting to your clients, these changes might be placing more pressure on our their budgets. As you know, the premium budget as well as the health of your client are two main factors to consider when designing a case. Make sure you're aware of changes coming in the industry so you know how to best advise your clients. We're here to help!